Comments on: Which dropouts should we focus on first?

By: Teach_J

Teach_J — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:45:02 +0000

Here in Texas they are only making it more expensive, not more rigorous. They force you to renew your certification every five years and pay the state for the privilege of teaching. And of course if you want to be marketable and have multiple certificates (for example secondary English and secondary art) then you get to pay for each one.

By: Delaine Zody

Delaine Zody — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:31:45 +0000

I don’t know what Montana’s teacher training is like, but if California makes theirs anymore rigorous, we won’t have anyone entering the teaching field. The classes almost kill off the student teachers before they ever finish, and then finding a teaching job in California is becoming harder, too. I keep wondering why anyone is going into the profession.

By: ani

ani — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:46:21 +0000

We have one of the hightest drop out rates no matter what definition you use. I work for a rezervation school in Montana. I really don’t think there is a direct corelation between teachers dropping out and students dropping out. But I do think you address the drop out problem in Kindergarten. Identify the children most likely to drop out when they are in kindergarten and do what you can to keep them. Programs to keep high school students from dropping out are next to impossible to succeed.

I guess you could say the same thing about teachers. Maybe the teacher training programs should be more rigourous about weeding out people who won’t stay the course. Many people, it seems, fall into teaching because they can’t think of anything else to do, or they’ve flunked out of other programs. Or because they liked going to school. I really think we should be much more demanding of our teacher training programs, there should be internships and residencys and probation to really train teachers before they are given a class of their own.

By: Teach_J

Teach_J — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:00:41 +0000

First you have to define what a drop out is, because that is like nailing jello to a wall. Does it mean finishes 13 years of school k-12, does it mean finishes high school 9-12 or does it mean any kid who does not finish the year?

The dropout rate in 9-12 is more like 30-40 percent. We have freshmen classes around 500 and senior classes around 300. Simple math.

By: Brandt Schneider

Brandt Schneider — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:00:45 +0000

I had a great, supportive principal my first year. But the district supervisor almost drove me out. Gave me all zeros on my observations three times in a row.

Next question–of the 1000 positions lost in Connecticut this budget season how many of those teachers are lost forever?